The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1887-07-28
ovr OF A JOB.
Answering Worthless Advertisements
and Cheated by an Agency"
fSpecial CORRESPONDENCE


out of work, day af er day seeking employ
ment and finding none.
1t is the inevitable result Of artificial sys
TENS of labor that large population must
ever remain idle. No amount of genius, In.
fluence, or even money, can find work. There
are too few situations to go round, and in the
fierce scramble for employment thousands
get trampled into the mire Of poverty, star.
walton and crime
The unemployed amuses himself by an.
swering the advertisements in the daily pa-
pers for "help wanted" in the vain hope OF
securing u position. The 50 called positions
advertised as vacant are either too desperate
or too unreal to get filed privately.
A situation is offered ito an energetic man
with some knowledge OF business" the salary
being SIS week. This invariably turns out
to be request for the services of an ordinary
book canvasser, who is required ito take" so
many orders a week before the salary is
Forthcoming.
There is no business in life so easy to sue
coed in as book canvassing, according to the
man who cools his heels ON the Office desk,
The victim who through force Of adverse cir.
cumstances or criminal want of judgment
ventures to canvass books finds out very
soon that the difference between glitter and
gold is a very tangible thing.
The circular beginning Caesar was book
canvasser, Napoleon was book canvasser,
and Grant peddled books when he wasn't
fighting, etc. ," has sent mary bright youth
to an untimely grave.
There are in New York an increasing mum.
Der of SO called employment agencies" that
daily spread tempting array Of vacant situa-
lions going a-begging for men to fill them.
How the mouth of the unsophisticated youth,
seeking position, must water at such list
| to choose from. He can be an "oflice man.
| ager," or one of the "thirty-two cashiers,
seventy-sx correspondents or fifty-six book.
keepers" wanted, not to mention the floor
walkers clerks, typewriters, stenographers,
| draughtsmen," etc, But when he comes to
taste these apples of Sodom he is apt to make
a wry face.
Your correspondent, when in restaurant
few days ago, met an intellectual man out
of employment. All his efforts to obtain po
sition met with disappointment. He stated
that it was impossible To obtain position Of
any respectability without the most exten
sve influence or money to buy it,
Take my own case said he. 81 am &c
graduate of university and have beeu AZ
editor, an insurance agent and for some years
had charge of a stockholders office. am a
first class corr espondenr, can keep accounts
ard hold the very highest references from all
riy former employers, and find it impossible
70 obtain a position. neither chew nor
5moke gamble nor steal, swear nor drink,
| yet nobody, it seems, wants to give me EN-
| ployment. | am now six months out Of
work, and having wife and three children
co support, you may guess ! am very bad Off.
~ have replied to hundreds of advertise
ments and am fortunate if get one reply to
| every ten letters | write, and even then there
Is always some technicality that defeats me.
San insurance company told me my appli.
| cation was second on a list Of seventy-twO
| candidates. IL the first name didn't get the
| position, they would give it to me. The first
man got it,
"A dry goods firm told me II | were only
acquainted with the dry goods trade, could
secure the position Of correspondent adver.
tised. They gave it to "A dry goods man"
| "Have you ever tried any of the employ
ment agencies9" queried the correspondent.
eyes, sir" he replied, "but found them
| w oV S"iiu'SH1 bSNioSh w plNJ upph Ohp VII
| fortunate.
81 called upon a firm that advertised
seventy.two positions vacant, and told them
wanted "ork. The manager stated that he
could pc ply obtain Inc first class situation
if | VIC. ! only register my name and pay
the fee OF 80.
81 paid the money and told the manager
didn't want him to look around specially on
my behalf, but simply wished one Of the
seventy-two positions vacant"
"'Well he said, 'call tomorrow and I'll fl
you in good job
II called, but he stated that the employer
to whose good graces he wished TO consigr
me had informed him that he was SO well
satisfied with the man he had sent over prior
to my arrival that he wouldn't make a
change. But said the manager, what OBJ.
lection have you to take $1,000 position as
cashierF
"'None whatever said; where is the
jobr
"'Call in tomorrow said he, and I'll fix
you.'
"'Why not send me over nowY inquired.
"'Well, he said, Il must first communicate
with the employer to appoint an hour for the
interview. You call here at ~ noon to-mor
row and I'll send you over TO the man him
self
So saying he gave me a meodramati'
squeeze of the hand TO inspire confidence II
him.
II called the next day. as arranged, bu
found the manager unaccountably absen
from his office
" demonstrated with the only other EN-
ploye visible, but the youth simply shook hi
head and said he knew nothing about it
Call in during the evening again and you'll
likely catch him in, was his only consolation
"My place of abode was five miles Off, con
sequently each time these devils lightly asked
me to 'call back again meant a journey o.
ten miles and loss of three or four hours
time.
III called the following morning, bright anC
early, and waited until the manager arrived
and asked him the meaning Of the deception
he was practicing on me. wanted to know
why he wouldn't give me one Of the seventy
two positions he had OH hand.
" Is your business a swindlef inquired
ale finally admitted, after three days
lying to me, that he advertised situations a
vacant as bait to induce employers 10 inquir
for help, and was thus acting on my behalf
"'No SIR ! said, you put out the bait +
still further bleed m6n who are bled by mis-
fortune. You are a swindler, sirr
"'Get out of my office he shouted 'ge
nutD